The present invention relates to a motor support and in particular, to a support mounting a grinding wheel for adjustable movement with respect to a grinding station in a saw chain depth-grinding apparatus and the like.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,267,751 I disclose a saw chain depth-grinding apparatus for grinding the depth stops in a conventional saw chain formed of plural cutter links, where each link includes a depth stop and a cutter blade extending above the associated depth stop. The apparatus includes a motor-driven grinding wheel mounted on a frame, and a swing arm pivotally mounted on the frame for swinging in a limited-movement arcuate path beneath the grinding wheel, and for shifting radially away from such path against the urging of a spring interposed between the arm and the frame. A guide member mounted on the frame adjacent the grinding wheel is positioned to contact a cutter blade in a cutter link supported on the swing arm, as the arm is moved arcuately below the grinding wheel. Contact between the cutter blade and the guide member causes the pivot arm to shift radially downwardly, against the urging of the above-mentioned spring, as the cutter link passes directly below the grinding wheel, to limit the closest approach between the depth stop on the cutter link and the grinding wheel. The grinding wheel motor in the apparatus is mounted on the frame on a scissor-type lift which is height adjustable to vary the relative height position of the grinding wheel with respect to the guide member on the frame. This adjustment is used to set the depth of grinding of the depth stops.
One limitation associated with the motor height adjustment feature in the above apparatus is the difficulty in adjusting the scissor lift to produce accurate, small changes in the position of the grinding wheel. For example, an operator, after initially adjusting the apparatus to produce one grinding depth, may wish to readjust the grinding wheel position as little as a few mils to vary grinding depth correspondingly. This adjustment requires a certain amount of trial and error on the part of the operator, first in adjusting the scissor lift, then in independently checking the resultant vertical spacing between the grinding wheel and the guide member. Another problem is that once the scissor lift has been height adjusted, the grinding wheel position may shift as the lift's moving parts settle slightly during the course of a chain grinding operation.
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide in a grinding apparatus having a grinding station defined by a guide member, a support mounting a grinding wheel motor for accurate and stable adjustable movement with respect to the grinding station.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide such a support which can be adjusted to vary the grinding wheel motor position accurately within a range of a few thousandths of an inch.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a support which is simple in construction and operation.
The present invention includes a grinding wheel motor support which is adjustable with respect to a grinding station in a saw chain depth-grinding apparatus and the like. The support includes a threaded element to which the grinding wheel motor is attached, and a sleeve mounted on a frame in the apparatus at a fixed position with respect to the grinding station. The sleeve has a bore in which the threaded element is movable, to adjust the position of the grinding wheel with respect to the grinding station, the sleeve and threaded element being keyed to prevent relative rotation therebetween. A pair of nuts screwed on the element bear against opposite ends of the sleeve to secure the threaded element at a desired axial position with respect to the sleeve.
In a preferred embodiment, the sleeve has annular beveled end recesses, and the nuts have annular beveled shoulders contactable with associated sleeve recesses to produce centering of the threaded element in the bore.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will become more fully apparent when the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.